The Context of the "Common Word"
Drew Christiansen, S.J. Monday, 1 December 2008
The release of "A Common Word Between Us and You", a letter of 138 Muslim scholars addressed to the leaders of Christian churches in search of dialogue, has sparked a flurry of responses and a spate of commentary. Many Muslim and Christian scholars, free of specific formal religious ties, have been able rapidly to initiate and respond to one another's texts and oral statements. By contrast, institutional stakeholders in interreligious affairs have often moved at a slower and more calibrated pace. For example, the Vatican, which has engaged in dialogue with Muslim leaders for decades via the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue (PCID) and with Muslim-majority states via the Vatican's diplomatic corps, took time to respond, as it is accustomed to doing despite today's 24/7 news cycle. As a result, outsiders suspected that the Vatican was cool to an exceptional initiative.
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